The Rising Storm team are proud to present you with a little something to whet your appetites for the forthcoming Rising Storm expansion to Red Orchestra 2: a teaser video showcasing the Iwo Jima level. This map features the beaches and tunnels of the heavily defended 'home island' with its iconic landmark, Mt Suribachi. This is the first map-specific material to be seen and hints at some of the goodies and new features coming in Rising Storm.

It’s been a busy few months for the Rising Storm team, integrating our work with the public version of the recently released Red Orchestra 2 SDK and getting on board some top talent. New additions include the composer, Ben Hollway, who has worked on the music promoting this year’s Oscar ceremonies and with recording artists such as Devlin, and Harlan Glenn, who has worked in a research capacity for HBO’s ‘The Pacific’ and ‘Band of Brothers’ and as Pacific theatre researcher for both the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. The trailer itself features the special effects work of Richard Dawson, another new member of the team.

As you can see, with TWI’s support, this is a mod that is able to punch above its weight in terms of the quality of its crew. This is particularly so as RS has long been recruiting from the fertile gounds of the modding communities which grew up around TWI’s previous hits, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 1941-45 and Killing Floor. We do, however, still have openings for a couple more talented modellers to round off the ranks and applications can be made <a href="http://www.risingstormgame.com/recruitment">here</a>.

Red Orchestra 2 SDK at night, modders delight.> THAT should have been my headline, but alas it did not fit. Tripwire explain that these tools are now available to everyone who owns the game: “While the limited functionality preview versions of the SDK have been available to select modders for a while, this release now makes the full capabilities of the Mod SDK available to everyone. Users can now make and publish everything from simple mods and mutators, through custom maps and on to full total conversion mods.” The chaps at Tripwire also point out that there are already some mods in progress with the pre-release SDK: Rising Storm, In Country Vietnam, and Iron Europe.

The full version of the Red Orchestra 2 SDK has been released for free, giving RO2 owners the opportunity to create maps and game modes for Tripwire's multiplayer shooter. The developers have released a few limited versions of the SDK, but the full suite of tools is now available.

"Users can now make and publish everything from simple mods and mutators, through custom maps and on to full total conversion mods," Tripwire say, mentioning that big mods like Rising Storm, In Country Vietnam and Iron Europe are already in development. You can grab the mod tools from the Tools tab of your Steam account.

Tripwire are no strangers to the modding scene. Killing Floor and Red Orchestra started out as mods for Unreal 2004. Hopefully the SDK release can inspire another wave of talented modders.

Modding and map making tools are now available free to everyone that owns Red Orchestra 2! While the limited functionality preview versions of the SDK have been available to select modders for a while, this release now makes the full capabilities of the Mod SDK available to everyone. Other changes in this update include:

General- Settings menu bug fixes (e.g. Changing Vsync setting now requires a restart)- Switching roles/teams while in a tank should now work properly- Melee hit detection improvements. For example, it is now possible to hit a prone player with a bayonet while standing.- The commanders order marker will now disappear properly when aimed at the sky instead of getting stuck at some location in the map- Countdown maps will no longer show the improper amount of manpower when a new player joins during a match in progress

SDK: How to use redirects to download custom maps (Modders)- Publish your custom map using the publish button in the editor. This will 'cook' twice because the server needs a different version.- Grab the files from Published/CookedPCServer/ and give those to your server admins. Remember to clearly label these as server files.- Grab the files from Published/CookedPC/ and give those to your server admins clearly labelled as client files. You must rename the published map files from .roe to .upk.

SDK: How to use redirects to download custom maps (Server Admins)- Place the server content into ROGame/CookedPCServer- Place the client content, removing any sub directories, at an http address. If the client content contains any .roe map they must be renamed to .upk.- Add the following to ROEngine.ini:

[IpDrv.HTTPDownload]RedirectToURL=http://pathtoyourredirect/

- Clients will now automatically download the custom content when connecting to your server

Modding and map making tools are now available free to everyone that owns Red Orchestra 2! While the limited functionality preview versions of the SDK have been available to select modders for a while, this release now makes the full capabilities of the Mod SDK available to everyone. Other changes in this update include:

General

* Settings menu bug fixes (e.g. Changing Vsync setting now requires a restart)
* Switching roles/teams while in a tank should now work properly
* Melee hit detection improvements. For example, it is now possible to hit a prone player with a bayonet while standing.
* The commanders order marker will now disappear properly when aimed at the sky instead of getting stuck at some location in the map
* Countdown maps will no longer show the improper amount of manpower when a new player joins during a match in progress

Publish your custom map using the publish button in the editor. This will 'cook' twice because the server needs a different version.
Grab the files from Published/CookedPCServer/ and give those to your server admins. Remember to clearly label these as server files.
Grab the files from Published/CookedPC/ and give those to your server admins clearly labelled as client files. You must rename the published map files from .roe to .upk.

SDK: How to use redirects to download custom maps (Server Admins)

Place the server content into ROGame/CookedPCServer
Place the client content, removing any sub directories, at an http address. If the client content contains any .roe map they must be renamed to .upk.
Add the following to ROEngine.ini:

[IpDrv.HTTPDownload]
RedirectToURL=http://pathtoyourredirect/

Clients will now automatically download the custom content when connecting to your server

We hope everyone enjoyed the Killing Floor Twisted Christmas through the holiday season, but now it is time for everything to return to “normal”. Well, back to “KF normal”, where the inhabitants are just normal, everyday monsters trying to rip your arms off. So, the game should now be back to that “normal”, Enjoy it!

[We also fixed an annoying little exploit on the dual magnums. So stop trying to use it :p]

We are currently on track to release the SDK for all users next week. We are working on getting server redirect and downloads working properly as the last step before release and are expecting to have that resolved on the early side of next week.

For those with SDK access already we are putting out an update today to fix load times and the SDK compile time.

As a heads up we are also looking into the reports that full servers can result in an unnatural ping growth for all players. We will be hosting a server in just under 2 hours at this IP: 96.38.241.66:7777 for testing. Thank you for your help in this matter.

As part of Steam's Holiday event, if you play Red Orchestra 2 today and get the achievement "Fighting The War on Christmas - Participate in a successful territory capture on Commissars House" in RO2 you can win a prize on Steam!!! These prizes include free games, free DLC, coupons for % off of games, and more. So get in game and get that achievement now!!! For more info check out the <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/holidaysale">Steam Holiday Event Page.</a>

Note: if you already have the achievement you can still get a prize. Keep in mind that prize may be a lump of coal. But also keep in mind, as Steam says on the page lumps of coal can be crafted into prizes, or give you a chance to win EVERY GAME ON STEAM at the end of the event.

Game play fixes:
* Fix for Magnums not getting reload/recoil bonuses for sharpshooter
* Fix for claymore sword not having the same weight in game as the trader menu
* Fix for M4203 rounds and M79 rounds being shared online, causing you to double use grenade launcher ammo, as well as some other issues
* Fixed the problem with grenades, rockets, etc colliding with players on your team and blowing yourself up

Map fixes:
* Fixed Exploits on KF-IceCave

This is a required update for both clients and servers, so servers will need to update before you can see them in the browser and join them.